New Stuff is Fun :)

"Knock Knock"
Me: "Helllo UPS man!! Thank you SO much!"
UPS Man: "Alright...(wave)"

Man, he could have at LEAST said you're welcome...but it's HERE! The sofa fabric is here! Yay! This is what happened next:

Moshe: "What's that? Something for me?"
Kali: "No punk, it's for me. Back off before I smack you upside your fool head!"

She's a brat, what can I say. :) I really love the fabric though - I was nervous ordering it online since I hadn't seen it but fabric.com offers free shipping on orders over $35 and free returns so that put my mind at ease. I pulled off the first piece of the sofa tonight, so it's on now! No turning back!

I also took Micheal on another late night Frosty craigslist run (with a Frosty stop on the way) to pick up this cool lamp, or as the poster described it "striking."


The amber color is very pretty, and it's tall! I'm not a huge fan of the shade, it's kinda dingy so I'll probably replace with a nice white and a bit shorter drum shade. Here's a pic to help understand how tall it is...

:) So the lamp itself is about as tall as Da'Moshe. He's so helpful, I tell ya.

Cute, Fun and Easy Lantern Makeover!

After a week of laundry and closet organization I definitely needed to add something cute, fun, and easy to give me a little DIY pep. When I saw that pyrex dish at the thrift store last week there were two other little guys that had caught my attention and I just couldn't get them outta my mind. So I went back hoping they were still around.

Yay!!

As you can see from the pics, they were a lovely brass color. Which of course called for a nice coat of spray paint to update these guys. I disassembled them and used some Bar Keeper's Friend to scrub them down because they had a few oxidized and rusty areas.

I primed with Rustoleum's gray primer, painted with Rustoleum's turquoise and then finished with their matte finish clear coat. I also ran the glass covers through the dishwasher to get them cleaned up. I'm in love!





I think they're so fun and summery! I used paint I already had, so my only cost was the 10 bucks I paid for the lanterns.

Painting Note: I did run into a problem while spraying with the turquoise, some bubbling in the paint - I think it had to do with the heat index and humidity, but I was tired of waiting! So I sanded it down and painted again with a lighter hand and it was fine.

In other news, the fabric I ordered for the sofa reupholstery project is due to arrive tomorrow.



I'm only slightly terrified as that means I'll have no excuse to delay this monster of a project...

Lastly, Kali approves of the cushion I recovered for the outdoor furniture. Too bad it's gonna have a divot now from her chunky butt!



Until tomorrow! - Kari

When does the fun stuff start?

So far this "stay at home wife" thing isn't all it's cracked up to be... I had visions of being super productive and knocking out DIY and crafty projects left and right to share with you guys! So far I've...

• Taken in 8 years worth of dry cleaning (give or take 7 years and six months).
  
• Made my Residency/Wilmington binder so I have all my moving and job docs in one place.
  
  
• Dropped off all the random stuff we had sitting around to donate at the Salvation Army.
  
• Went to IKEA to buy matching hangers for all my work clothes and my new closet.
  
  
• Went to three different pharmacies to find someone that was smart enough to understand that if I have a prescription for Allegra-D I can buy MORE than one box!!
  
• Dropped off my badge and final paperwork.
  
• Canceled my KTag and got an EZPass.
  
• Made Falafel.
  
• Made one quick stroll through the thrift store and almost bought this cool pyrex.
  
  
• Downloaded the Windows 7 software for my printer so I could print coupons I didn't get ot use.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......have you fallen asleep reading this? I have... It's all stuff that needs to be done, so I'm knocking it all out. But tomorrow I tell you, something interesting will be done! :) And for fun, here is one of Moshe's favorite passtimes, kibble hunting. I took a screen shot of the elusive kibble because if you blink at the beginning of the video you don't see it, he's that fast.

POUNCE!

Weekend Update 7/27/11, WWL style

1. I really need to stop buying things in the "green apple" color...
   

   I picked up this little green guy at C&B outlet for my new place for $5.95! I laughed at myself when I moved it over to the side table to get a better picture and realized I might have a bit of a green obsession. :)
   
   

2. C&B is discontinuing my line of dinnerware (insert super sad face.) So we went on a scavenger hunt to finish out the set with four place settings of each color I want, green (ha!), teal, and purple.
   
   

   After three stores I only need two more Max Green Dinner plates and two more Max Green Salad plates, so if you see some shoot me a message!
   
   

3. The cushions from this chair fit almost perfectly in this chair so when I recovered them they were temporarily snagged for this chair in the living room while the other one waits to be painted!
   
   
   
   
4. No matter how long or bad your day was, coming home to a kitty perched on your reupholstery project with her tongue sticking out will make you smile.
   
   
   
   
5. Moshe doesn't like the new pantry door...he likes full access to all areas of the new house!
   
   
   GASP!! New pantry door?!?! Yes folks, it's done. More pics to come! Woot woot!

Hello? Bueller?

Anybody home??

Yes we're still here and surviving, barely. Pretty much everything (renovations, blogging, cooking, sleeping) has been on hold for the past few weeks while I worked towards my dissertation and internship deadlines. I submitted a full draft of my dissertation on Monday at 2:15am and have submitted 7 out of 14 internship applications. So I was able come up for air long enough to say hi!

Micheal was able to make some progress on the kitchen while I was dissertating - we have FOUR cabinet doors hung now! :) Sadly I don't have many pictures to share, any of me would have been pretty scary since I have lived in sweats on the couch for two weeks.

So I will share kitties. :)


They love this chair!

We also have been going to estate sales for fun breaks on the weekends (I know, we're dorks) and have picked up a few cool items. Micheal's keen eye got us one item for $4 and when we got home and looked it up it was listed online for $275! Quite a deal! :)

We're ready to go back to kitchen reno this weekend so hopefully will have some pictures to share!

Pitfalls of Pets and Renovation

Generally our kitties just run for the hills when we get out the power tools (especially poor Moshe) but occasionally they poke their little noses into the construction zone particularly if it's a day without noisy tools.

So far Kali has stepped in my paint pan, Moshe regularly tried to brush against wet paint or wet joint compound. Indi walks through all the construction dust because she wants to be RIGHT WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES!!

But this was really the best/worst/most hilarious and I had to share a pic.





Poor Moshe...that require a good washing of the paws, of which he was not a big fan. I love that you can almost see the process unfolding - the back right paw hits and slides, the back left paw spreads out to try and get some grip...lots of laughs that day. :)

What we learned this weekend

We eased our way back into renovations this weekend after a nice weekend off, working on the baseboard and a few final pieces of trim.  We both also spent time working on our dressers.  Nothing too crazy happened this weekend, but here are somethings we learned!

1. A weekend of continuous drizzle (which is also a great name for a kid...drizzle...Glee, anyone? anyone??) can dampen anyone's spirits but makes for good motivation to stay in and do work.

2. Because of the previously mentioned drizzle (heh) we learned that we have very likely been successful in fixing the leak in our roof/bathroom!!

3. When working on a project with a power tool and something is not working right there are three things you should check for: 1. Equipment malfunction, 2. Materials problem...or...3. User error. ;)

4. Leaves make great fall yard decoration.

5. It's hard to regulate the heat in our house - keeping it at 68 it was a little chilly but turning it up to 70 for our guests made it very warm.

6. Transferring our cars to Maryland is going to cost about 600-700 dollars - it's highway robbery!!

7. We are no longer going to fight Moshe on his new hangout spot...he's being good...we know where he is...so we're picking our battles.

Yes, that is the top of the refrigerator - he is a pain but so stinkin' cute!

Let us out!

After allowing the kids out last weekend they have been spending more time at the door than usual!  If it's open we can't get them away from it so I thought I'd share this picture for Ashley since she recently shared a window "Butt Shot" of her own on her renovation blog Decorating Obsessed.  She has redone some amazing pieces of furniture lately, you should check it out!

These are our kids (until we decide to have the human kind), Kali the oldest is on the left, Moshe the pain is in the middle, and Indi the cuddler is on the right.